Dio - The Last In Line - Guitar Lesson

The Last in Line

1984 5:45

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About The Last In Line

Few Heavy Metal tracks from 1984 balance atmosphere and aggression as well as this one does, and getting that balance right on guitar is the real challenge here. The song sits in E minor at 120 BPM in E Standard tuning, so there are no capo or retuning complications, but the riff work demands clean articulation at a pace that punishes sloppy fretting. Guitarist Vivian Campbell built the main riff around a driving, syncopated feel that can easily turn muddy if your pick attack is inconsistent. The intro and verse riffs are the parts worth isolating first: use the Practice Toolbar to loop them slowed down until the note separation is crisp before bringing the tempo back up. The song also calls for a big, sustained lead tone in the solo section, so pay attention to how you handle vibrato and string damping across the mid-tempo passages. Dio recorded this as the title track of the 1984 album, and it has stayed a benchmark for melodic metal guitar playing ever since.

• The main riff is in E minor using E Standard tuning, making it approachable for players already comfortable with open-position and lower-register power chord work.
• At 120 BPM the picking hand gets a real workout, and maintaining consistent pick attack through the syncopated riff pattern is the key technical hurdle.
• Vivian Campbell's solo section rewards practice on controlled vibrato and smooth position shifts, so looping it slowed down via the Practice Toolbar is highly recommended.